All posts for the month October, 2011

P.S. Pertinent to the ongoing discussion about Devdas from the post a couple of days ago, take note of that other woman’s speech about how “We have to fight the male chauvanists in this society” (which forms a nice contrast to Kanan Devi singing “I am a desterted flower, I am the darling of the wild…” two minutes later).

It doesn’t start until around 2:20, but the opening music is nice, too. And by the way, when I found this movie, Sesh Uttar (1942), as the saying goes, I struck gold! Yes, old is gold…

I am watching the rest of the film now and other songs are marvelous, too. I have seen/heard most of them before, most often in the Hindi version, Jawab, but not in such a clear copy and not with the benefit of subtitles, nor in the context of the film, which is quite delightful so far…

Though I have to admit, I’d hate to have that little girl’s future… Or her future boyfriend’s future… Or the future of the other woman who would fall in love with her future boyfriend… Oh, how I love to watch films in which everyone is more miserable than I am! (Though it is interesting that at some point or other, all of those characters have at least some things that many people might think would bring them happiness, whether it’s material wealth, beauty, the ability to be a great dancer, the adoration of two beautiful women, etc. Interesting contradictions there, and all very deliberate, I am certain.)

And by the way, what a fine film! More for the acting, music, singing, dancing and, probably, direction, than the plot or how that plot unfolds (though I know that that story is a big and extremely influential classic and all)…but beautiful nonetheless. I put off getting this movie because I wanted so much to see the Saigal version first. But I finally gave up on that idea, and I’m not at all sorry that I did.

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